One of the chief justifications of qualitative research is that it produces rich data. Unfortunately, many researchers find that their data is anything but rich; too often it can be boring, superficial, and flat. This presentation engages participants in thinking about factors that serve as barriers to rich data, and in how they can improve the quality of data in their own research through elicitation tasks and thoughtful interview and observational techniques. This workshop should be equally useful to researchers working both in school and outside of formal educational contexts.

Examples of professor Barton’s previous research in this field include:

Barton, K. C. (2015). Elicitation techniques: Getting people to talk about things they don’t usually talk about. Theory and Research in Social Education, 43, 179-205.